Any incidental contact between a Mundane and the sanctified
personage of a police officer – including the act of breathing on an officer –
can be prosecuted as “battery.” This would apply to cases in which a woman is
desperately trying to prevent an officer from violating her sexually: A victim who puts up
resistance in such circumstances can expect to be violently subdued, arrested,
and charged with “assaulting an officer.”

In Utah, a victim of a sexual assault by a police officer
could easily find herself convicted of a felony unless she submits with
docility to whatever the armed predator is willing to inflict on her. On the
other hand, if the officer is exposed as a sex offender, it’s quite likely that
he would face misdemeanor charges. This is illustrated by the case of former
Box Elder County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott
Womack, who is facing multiple lawsuits and criminal charges involving
illegal strip-searches of young women conducted during traffic stops over a
period of about two years.

In February, Womack
pleaded no contest to three counts of attempted custodial misconduct –
which is a misdemeanor offense. In exchange for Womack’s plea, county
prosecutors dropped nine additional charges – all of them misdemeanors, as
well.

Under the plea bargain agreement, Womack’s name would not be
permanently inscribed in the sex offender registry – despite the fact that his
acts are, by definition, those of a violent sex offender. Since the charges
against him are misdemeanors, Womack would eventually be eligible for the
restoration of his peace officer certification. Womack
does face federal criminal charges and federal lawsuits filed by three of
his victims, but it’s likely that most, if not all, of the trouble he faces
would be made to disappear once the first state case against him is closed.

After he was arraigned, Womack was compelled to surrender
his passport and to avoid contact with the victims. However, he has been free
during the legal proceedings. During a court hearing in early May, Womack –
surrounded by family and other supportive spectators – “waited for the judge to
call his case sitting in a back room of the court, shrouded by blinds that
court workers said [are] typically reserved for victims who do not want to be
seen by defendants,” reported
the Salt Lake Tribune.

In other words, the impenitent predator was dealt with as if he were the victim, cosseted and
sheltered and treated with gentle deference. He has been allowed to remain at
large despite the fact that at least one of the victims, Brigham City resident
Holly Griffin, said that she was afraid of retaliation by Womack “because he
had my address.”

Griffin’s fears were amply justified. During a traffic stop
not far from her home, Womack – in what would emerge as his modus operandi –
claimed that Griffin was wanted on a narcotics warrant, and would be handcuffed
and taken to the county jail unless she submitted to an invasive inspection for
tattoos, piercings, and other identifiers.

“When he returned to my car [after getting the driver’s
license and registration], he explained that there was a warrant out for me in
Summit County,” Griffin
told the Salt Lake City ABC affiliate. “I told him I had not been to Summit
County in a few years and that I had never done anything wrong in my life.”

Womack presented Griffin with two options: Submit to a
partial strip search, or go to jail. When she requested that a female officer
conduct the search, Womack replied that none was available.

“He asked me to life up my shirt up to my bra, lift down my
pants to expose my upper thigh, and to show my lower leg,” the victim recounts.
After she had satisfied the armed stranger’s demands, Womack released her
without issuing a citation or a warning. Understandably traumatized by her
experience, Griffin didn’t file a complaint – until after another victim,
18-year-old Tamsen Reid, filed a federal lawsuit against Womack and Box Elder
County.

On November 20, 2010, Reid – who was 17 at the time – was
one of five teenagers in a car that was stopped by Womack during a snowstorm.
Womack claimed that the driver was speeding. After noticing that one of the
teens was smoking, Womack ordered the driver and the passengers out of the car
to search the vehicle for drugs.

After running the IDs of the five teenagers, Womack claimed
that three of them – all of them young women, wouldn’t you know – had
outstanding drug warrants in other jurisdictions. He had Reid and her female
friends stand barefoot in the snow while lifting up their shirts and their
bras, ostensibly to search for drugs.

Speaking out: Tamsen Reid.

For some reason, the costumed creeper took a special
interest in Reid. Womack claimed that Reid was wanted in that state for heroin
possession. This led the young woman, who had not been to Arizona and had never
done heroin, to suggest that she might be the victim of identity theft.

Displaying the affected solicitude of a practiced molester,
Womack told the frightened girl that she could clear things up right away, if
she would simply get into his patrol vehicle and undress so he could inspect
her for distinctive tattoos and piercings. Her only other alternative was to be
handcuffed and booked into jail.

Terrified, and most likely nauseous, Reid complied. This
prompted the predator to escalate his demands: He claimed that it was necessary
for the teenager to spread her legs in order for him to determine if she had a
distinctive tattoo in her genital region. At that point, Reid finally rebelled,
telling the perverted stranger that the examination was over. Womack issued a
warning to the driver, and the teenagers went on their way.

At the time, Reid later recalled, the teens were relieved,
rather than outraged, because nobody got a ticket.

Womack's comrades at the BCSO.

About ten months later, following her 18th
birthday, Reid contacted the Box Elder Sheriff’s Office to have the spurious
drug warrant removed from her record. The clerk with whom Reid spoke informed
her that there was no warrant, and never had been.

Reid also found out that
Womack didn’t file a record of the traffic stop or the warning he had issued to
the driver. She was also told that her that several other complaints had been
received about Womack’s behavior.

Shortly after Reid filed a lawsuit against Box Elder County,
Womack was allowed to “leave employment” at the Sheriff’s Office – but he was
permitted to keep his law enforcement certification until the lawsuit was made
public. By that time it had been known, for more than a year, that Womack was
in the habit of conducting undocumented traffic stops in which he neither filed
reports nor turned on his dashcam recorder.

In the August 2011 press conference announcing her lawsuit,
Reid insisted that, however inexplicably, she still “believed in law
enforcement,” but that her experience left her experiencing nightmares that
would cause her to “wake up screaming.”

The indelible trauma experienced by Reid and Womack’s other
victims could easily have turned out even worse if any of them had put up even
the slightest physical resistance to the deputy’s sexual assaults.

Reid, who was undressed and alone in Deputy Aqualung’s Creepmobile, might
consider herself to be blessed: If Womack had decided not to let the victim
leave after she refused to undergo a genital examination, Reid most likely
would have been arrested for resisting arrest and “assaulting” the sexual
predator who had detained her.

Under SB 131, the newly enacted Utah law on “battering” a
law enforcement officer, a future victim of a similar sexual assault by a cop –
and there will be others – could be
charged with a felony if she tries to escape.

Each of these earnest young people dutifully recited pious
platitudes about the sterling nobility of the state’s armed enforcement caste,
the

all-encompassing danger in which they constantly find themselves, the
vulgar ingratitude of those who would criticize them, and the moral obligation
of the public “to protect them” (yes, one witness actually used those words).

The last witness, a young woman named Allison (whose last
name I will not mention), denounced “aggressors” who would do injury to “the
heroes who promote our well-being every day…. Let’s do all we can to increase
the safety of our honorable officers.”

Dear Allison: Have you met Tamsen Reid? I’m sure she would
be interested in having a chat with you about the uniformed hero who was so
zealous to promote Reid’s “well-being” that he tried to force her, at gunpoint,
to undergo an unauthorized gynecological exam in his patrol vehicle.

35 comments:

MoT
said...

Will, you've done a great job once again. And notice how Wommacks militarized "buddies" stand in full regalia ready to put the beat-down on those who don't "comply". Here again is yet another picture of how Posse Comitatus is as dead as a door nail.

one day, such trash, in uniform, or not, will feel a tap on their shoulder, turn around and there, facing them, will be one of their victims, family member(s) of the victim, or friend(s) who recognize the trash for what it is, the injustice that has protected the trash and are determined to act. at that point, justice will be served, as coldly as that demanded by the trash.

under such circumstances, when justice is served, we will read of the sociopath that acted against 'authority' and then be forced to endure reading all the misused platitudes that are routinely employed to make trash seem like treasure.

i will not be fooled when i read such a thing. rather, i will think 'justice', my heart will be gladdened and i will hope and pray the avenging angel is rewarded, not penalized.

This is bad for police, if you are put in a situation where you have to defend yourself from an officer it's now logically viable to just kill the officer and hope you get away with it instead of spending enormous amounts of time in jail (not saying I approve, but think about it).

One of the things that struck me was how much the photo with the caption, 'Womack's comrades at the BCSO' looked exactly like a photo of a high school football or baseball team.

Conditioning.

Anyway, I agree with Anonymous above,

"This is bad for police, if you are put in a situation where you have to defend yourself from an officer it's now logically viable to just kill the officer and hope you get away with it instead of spending enormous amounts of time in jail (not saying I approve, but think about it)."

We have long since ceased being a country governed by rule of law and become one suffering under rule of man. The only way justice gets served anymore is if Womack and the rest of those who think and act like him answer a knock on the door and a moment later find themselves standing before a judge that cannot be bought and WILL judge them according to their deeds. People who state that violence is never an option are wrong. Violence is ALWAYS an option and sometimes the only viable one left.

Soon, the jury boxes will be full of people who have felt the boot on their throats, and there will be a change. The culture has to change before the policies will, but I have to believe that more people are waking up to what the police actually stand for. It's evident in the people I know. We all used to be good law and order conservatives, and none of us have ever been in trouble with the law, but we aren't blind.

Reminds me of the day I retired from the Army and was stopped for "rolling a stop sign" by one of Washington states "finest".After noticing the NRA sticker on my truck (which also had a military sticker on the windshield), he dragged me out of my truck BY THE HAIR, twisted my arm and handcuffed me by the side of the road in front of my neighbors and friends driving by, then proceeded to search me.Ended up not even giving me a ticket, but he gave me something else...a firm distrust and solid dislike of police creeps. I used to be a staunch supporter of the police, but no longer. I now see them as thugs in uniform and avoid donating or supporting them and I speak up about what they are every chance I get...jack booted thugs who delight in hurting people.JR

ebeye -- I'm applying to the BCSO the standard set by Sheriff Yates in this boilerplate statement from his annual department report:

"Nothing will be as important in my tenure as Sheriff as community relations. Most of the citizens of this county may have only one contact with an officer in their life. Their perception of our department and me personally comes from that contact."

Each time Womack molested a female under color of "authority," he was acting as a representative of the entire department by the standard set by Sheriff Yates.

Then again, it's pretty clear that Yates doesn't understand the function of his office:

"A law enforcement officer's authority and power to take away a citizen’s constitutional rights is unmatched anywhere in our society. Never, ever abuse this privilege or the position of trust you hold."

A Sheriff and his deputies do NOT have the "authority and power to take away a citizen's constitutional rights"; assuming that we are going to abide their presence, they are to protect those rights against aggression. Nobody has a "right" to commit aggression.

As to the SWAT team: Why the hell does a rural county with a negligible crime rate "need" a paramilitary police auxiliary, especially one staffed with such visibly incompetent people?

A few years back, in Pima County Az.,a hardcore fascist county, I was arrested and charged with 3 felony counts by the crooked PCSO for defending myself, IN MY HOME, against a drunk violent intruder. I was acquitted of all charges by a prescient jury, but during the ordeal, 12 out of 13 deputies lied under oath in their reports, to get a search warrant, to get get an indictment, and on the stand. From then on, I have considered all so-called LEO's, legitimate targets.

I highly recommend to people to first try to reason with anyone they know who is already or thinking of becoming a Gov Enforcer - domestic version or military. If s/he insists on joining up as, or remaining, an Enforcer, than the only self-protecting long-range wide-view response is to NOT voluntarily associate with the individual, making it known why and encouraging others to do the same. When there are far fewer Enforcers, governments - legislators/executives (including the Pres)/judges/bureaucrats/etc - can do nothing more than issue WORDS. It is the Enforcers who do the HARM, sometimes not even using Gov-WORDS as an excuse.

Protests are NOT enough, but reduction/withdrawal of ALL voluntary association with Gov Enforcers by many people will deter very many from wanting to be part of the Gov "enforcement caste". With fewer Enforcers, Gov will be capable of less HARM. NO sales, NO service, NO camaraderie, NO anything - NO Voluntary Association! Negative Social Preferencing!

Creeps and perverts are always attracted to positions of authority. There, they can indulge their twisted proclivities without fear of being held accountable. The above picture of the BCSO boys playing dress-up kind of proves my point. And Tamsen Reid still believing in "law enforcement", please woman, pull your head out of your ass!

Anonymous said...This is bad for police, if you are put in a situation where you have to defend yourself from an officer it's now logically viable to just kill the officer and hope you get away with it instead of spending enormous amounts of time in jail (not saying I approve, but think about it)

Thanks again for the warning Will, and hope you are feeling much better. God bless you and your family. Teens who run away from home or hitch hike a ride might also run into these types of police, as was my experience as a young hippie teen in the 70's. As a Christian, I "witnessed" to them and was let go, but friends of mine were groped.

Agree with all you're saying and reporting (we follow you on Dr. Stan, etc.), especially with the young Senator Osmond (grandson to the famous Osmond family)that makes our point. A law enforcement officer who's fired for standing up to the corrupt Chief and/or other corrupt supervisor and tries to get a law passed in Kansas to protect the officers who are following the rules, so they don't get fired for it, and Senator Osmond proves in another state that those kind of efforts will be twisted into protecting the corrupt thugs! Read this example of a local lawsuit that the judge kicked up to federal court (and the defendants' response), and get back to us on what you think could be done since we can't find any email address to contact you (we don't have Outlook): http://www.basehorinfo.com/news/2012/aug/23/former-police-officer-sues-city-basehor-alleging-w/

I too believe that what once were "Peace Officers" have become LEO's. The "system" in that realm has become as evil as so many others.

But are all who wear a badge now automatically evil? Does one bad apple always taint the entirety of a given group? And, just because an office receives any degree of Federal funding/training, that all are to be expected to march lockstep to any Federal drumbeats?

This is a strike the root situation. To bemoan the "corruption" of the individuals employed to enforce state edicts is tantamount to complaining about the branches of tyranny without looking at the root.

Law enforcement has no place amongst a free people because being free is to follow your conscience rather than the law. It is absurd to acquiesce to a book stored in a central government's capital and edited by fools, than to look upon yourself to do what's right; we have lost so much in giving up our right to regulate ourselves in the absence of harm to others.

Terrible, but typical, story about the militarization and protection of LICAL law enforcement in America today. And I speak as a former Marine (late 60s-early 70s, Southeast Asia War Games, Second Place Winner, Era AND with 29 years of street level law enforcement, almost 17 years with SWAT and a full injured on duty disability under my belt... Retiring over a dozen years ago.

This is simply unreal. I read of similar situations frequently, hear about them (from "kids" I worked with who are now old timers - and shocked), and have even seen it. Will not cease until We, The People let ALL our Reps, at every level, know NO MORE!!!

BTW, it is important that I contact the author of following Blog with some info they may find important:

He probably didn't get off on humiliating these women but the power he had over them. If he needed to get his kicks he could go to a lot lizard at a truck stop or peep show but that would be something a non subhuman POS would do.

If they were true to their oaths, soldiers would refuse to participate in unconstitutional wars overseas, and police officers would refuse to participate in the unconstitutional war on drugs at home.

I appreciate what the Oathkeepers are trying to do -- but rather than talk in the subjunctive voice about the unconstitutional policies they wouldn't carry out in the future, they need to start actively resisting unconstitutional policies that are presently being carried out.

He is serving a 18 month sentence and only has to be on probation for 1 year. He got off easy as everyone predicted he would. I have known him personally and his family for many years, and although he is worthless, I feel for his children and all the things they will and have had to deal with due to his actions.